The challenge
Prejudice against transgender people, and fear of a backlash against a new anti-discrimination ordinance.
The case
In December 2014 Miami-Dade County added protections for transgender people to its anti-discrimination law. In 2015 the Los Angeles LGBT Center and SAVE, a South Florida LGBT group, sent 56 canvassers to the doors of 501 voters, randomly split between a conversation about transgender people and a control talk about recycling. In about ten minutes, canvassers asked voters to recall a time they had been judged for being different, and listened rather than argued. Researchers David Broockman and Joshua Kalla tracked voters with follow-up surveys. Warmth toward transgender people rose by about 10 points on a 0–100 'feeling thermometer', and the effect was still there three months later. Transgender and non-transgender canvassers were both effective.
Why it worked
A single, non-judgmental conversation that invites people to reflect on their own experience can durably shift prejudice, where argument and messaging usually fail.
Sources
- Broockman, D. & Kalla, J. (2016). Durably reducing transphobia: A field experiment on door-to-door canvassing. Science.
- PBS NewsHour (2016). Face-to-face canvassing reduces transgender prejudice, study says.
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